Join host Rick Hughes as he sheds light on the journey to true worship in this enlightening episode. Rick argues against superficial worship practices and injunctions misplaced confidence in rituals and emotional acclaim within the church setting. Instead, he points listeners toward a model of worship centered on reverent obedience and understanding of God’s true nature. Rick provides a critiqued narration of biblical texts, offering insights on how genuine faith and adherence to God’s will define true worship. This episode invites introspection and challenges listeners to evaluate their worship experiences against biblical standards.
Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes. And for the next few minutes, stick around. Only about 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, a whole lot of education, and absolutely no manipulation. Because we don’t con you. We’re not trying to raise money. We’re not trying to sell you something. We just want to give you something. Give you the Word of God, which is free. It doesn’t cost a dime. And if we can verify and identify God’s plan for your life, then if you want to orient and adjust to the plan, you’re free to do so. That’s up to you. My job is to be accurate, not sensational. My job is to be accurate, not emotional. My job is to be accurate doctrinally, to give you the correct interpretation of the scriptures without trying to manipulate you in any way whatsoever. By the way, if you ordered our new book, Understanding Your Soul, they are in the mail. You might not have got it yet, but it’s on the way. It’s been published, printed, and mailed out. And we’re working on another book. We’ll be probably into the spring before we have that book on the family. So anyhow, thank you for listening. Go to our website, rickhughesministries.org. That’s rickhughesministries.org. You’ll find so many books there you can order free of charge or books you can even listen to. As our announcer, Jack Steele, reads them to you line by line, word by word out of the book. You can listen right on the website. And you can see all the various radio shows that we played, the various stations that we play in, which is now well over 120 stations across America. And we do that by faith, we believe that God’s in it, he’ll pay for it, and he always has, he always will, and to him goes all the credit. Now as we move into the new year, I’d like to speak with you concerning the word worship. You heard that before, worship. We’re gonna have a worship service, people say. The reason I’m bringing this subject up is because there’s a lot of fake worshiping going on, pseudo-worshiping, and I’m seeing that both on social media and even locally. So let’s start with a scripture found in the Bible that talks about worship, okay? Because I know that you want to worship God. This is Sunday. It’s probably the only way to church to worship God. All right, let’s look at John 4, 24. God is a spirit. And those that worship him must worship him. There’s the word, worship, worship. Those that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Two conditional conditions to worship God. You must worship him in spirit and in truth. So in this passage, John documents what the Lord Jesus Christ said to the woman at Jacob’s well. This is in John chapter four. She came to draw water for her family in Samaria. And the Lord Jesus Christ had sent the disciples to get food and he was alone. She came up and he asked her for a drink. And she was amazed that a Jew would ask this of her. Of course, the Lord offered her the water of life, which is the real water that you want to drink. In John 4, 14, here’s the passage. Jesus said, whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never thirst again, but the water that I give him shall be a well of water springing up into everlasting life. This conversation resulted in her accepting his offer and receiving eternal life. But in the course of the conversation, she brought up something about how her ancestors had worshiped God at Mount Gerizim, Gerizim in the temple. Gerizim was a holy site for the Samaritans and believed to be where Abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac. And so they worshiped there and she said the Samaritans worshiped there and the Jews worshiped in the temple in Jerusalem. And she wanted to know what the difference was and Jesus made an amazing statement. He said, the hour will come and now is that hour when true worshipers, that’s the authenticated ones, shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship him. In other words, God is looking for people to worship him this way. God desires people to worship him this way because Jesus said God is looking for those to worship him because he’s a spirit And those that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. So the Lord Jesus Christ made it clear to the woman at the well that her heavenly father was seeking true worshipers. And that’s still true today. And he also made the condition for true worship very clear. A true worshiper will worship in spirit and in truth. The reason being God is a spirit. To worship him, we must approach him in spirit and in truth. So let’s start with this simple truth. A lost person, a person who’s not saved, a person who has never accepted Christ as their savior, a non-Christian is spiritually dead since he has not been born again. In John 3, 3, Jesus told Nicodemus, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they’re born again. Those words were spoken to Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee who came to question Jesus under the cover of darkness. Since Nicodemus did not understand the term being born again, what in the world that meant, then the Lord had to make it simple. In John 3, 5 through 8, Jesus answered, Verily and verily I tell you that no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and of the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to the flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to the Spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying you must be born again because the wind blows wherever it pleases and And you hear the sound of it, but you cannot tell where it’s coming from or where it’s going. And so it is with everyone born of the Spirit. So let’s make this a principle you understand. Let it be understood that organized religion is not salvation. Our Lord made it plain to the scribes and to the Pharisees who often criticized him about his message. I’ll show you where he said it in Matthew 7, 21. He said, not everyone, not everybody, who says to me, Lord, Lord, will inherit the kingdom of God. Now, this should be a warning to you because not everyone in your church is going to go to heaven. That’s what he’s saying. Not everyone who assembles for, not everyone who’s assembling for worship this morning, supposedly, is going to go to heaven. And then he says, the conjunction of contrast, the word but, Allah, but, only, only the ones who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. And then he said, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles? And then I’ll tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers. So here’s the question. If he said the only way to get to heaven is to do the will of the Father, then what is the will of the Father? In John 6, 40, the will of the Father is disclosed. He said it this way. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. So a true worshiper of God has believed in the work of Christ on the cross. He does not seek to vindicate or authenticate himself by religious traditions and religious rituals. So the very first step to true worship is you must be born again. You must be a child of God. That’s the only way we can have a spiritual connection with God, who is in fact a spirit himself. John 4, 24 again, God is a spirit, and those that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. So the next question is, what is truth? And that’s wrapped up in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 14, 6, Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life, and no one can come to the Father unless they come through me. You know, the world is full of those who worship a God, but unfortunately, it’s the wrong God, since there’s no access to God’s throne except through and only through Jesus Christ, his anointed son. So if you are a believer in Christ, then obviously you’re qualified to worship God. However, we must remember that God is a God of protocol. Protocol means the right thing must be done in the right way. So if we understand that, if you want to worship God, there’s a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. Unfortunately, most people going to worship today do it the wrong way. So it winds up being just a human good effort. So here, let’s start with this. No born-again Christian can worship God effectively if, in fact, he has broken fellowship with God by committing sin and failing to confess that sin. Don’t forget, we’ve been instructed to be filled with the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 5.18, where Paul wrote, be filled with the Spirit as a mandate And don’t forget that that’s different from being indwelled by the Holy Spirit. And then in Ephesians 4.30, the Bible tells us we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. It’s permanent, but the filling is experiential. You hear me? The sealing of the Holy Spirit is permanent, but the filling is experientially. In other words, we know that sin grieves the Holy Spirit. And we know that sin quenches the power to effectively guide and support our lives in 1 Thessalonians 5.19. Those two verses right there, Ephesians 4.30, 1 Thessalonians 5.19, tell you the result of quenching and grieving the Holy Spirit in your life. So if the Holy Spirit is quenched or grieved in your life, you can go sing all the songs you want to. You can raise your hands and sway back and forth in the auditorium and act like you’re worshiping God, and it’s all just wood, hay, and stubble. It’s all just a show. It’s all just Dollywood, born again sort of stuff. I mean, I’ve never heard anybody leaving a worship service tell the worshipers what I’m about to tell you. I’ve never heard anybody do that. I just, you know, they go into that thing and they start worshiping, so to say. They don’t say, listen, let me warn you. To effectively worship God, you must be filled with the Holy Spirit. Imagine several hundred singers and worshipers raising their hands and swaying back and forth. And they’re doing a right thing, but they’re doing it in the wrong way because they’ve quenched and grieved the Holy Spirit They’re in the flesh, they have unconfessed sin in their life, and they cannot worship God this way. You can’t worship God in the flesh. So the whole act becomes human good that will be rejected at the judgment seat of Christ. And that’s all taught in 1 Corinthians 3, 11 through 15. It’s taught to be wood, hay, and stubble. So any worship service you went to, while you had unconfessed sin in your life that you hadn’t dealt with, is wood, hay, and stubble burned up at the judgment seat of Christ. It’s not rewardable. And only you know. God knows. He can look at your heart. He can see if you’ve got those unconfessed sins in your life. But you may act like you’re all holy. You may act like you’re a great Christian. You may sing and raise your hands and sway back and forth. But you’re a liar because you quenched and grieved the Holy Spirit. And you’re not worshiping God. You’re a phony. You’re just putting on a phony worship service. Now you might ask yourself this question, then what exactly is true worship? And the scriptures answer that in Paul’s writing to the believers in Rome. And listen very carefully here and I’m gonna tell you what true worship really is, okay? Therefore, Romans 12 one, I urge you brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Uh-oh. Your spiritual service of worship. Present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice that is acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. In Romans 12.1, another translation says, I appeal to you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, this is a reasonable act of worship for you. Paul called himself a slave. Did you know that? The Greek word doulos, d-o-u-l-o-s, the slave to God in Romans 1.1. The King James Version is very interesting about that. If you’re gonna present your body as a service to God, you’re gonna be a slave. You’re going to be enslaved to God, but you’re a free slave. Paul said, I’m a free slave. I’m a zedulas. I am presenting my body as a living and holy sacrifice. That’s my way that I worship God. The King James version says this is our reasonable service, our worship. The word for service in the great New Testament is la-ria, la-ria. And it means to worship or to be of divine service. This noun is used five different times in the Greek New Testament, and it’s usually translated service to the God, meaning worship to God. It’s spelled L-A-T-E-R-I-A, pronounced Latria, and that is the word we get worship from. So are you aware, here’s a question I’m gonna ask you now. Are you aware that your body Your body, the one you live in, is now the temple of God, if you’re a Christian. Your body is the temple of God. Did you know that? You know, in the Old Testament, they had a tabernacle that they traveled with. We’ll talk about that here. But now, there is no tabernacle. You, you are the tabernacle. Where in the world would I get that from? 1 Corinthians 3, 16 through 17. Don’t you know that? that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you. If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, and you are that temple. I could go through the ritual cleansing before any high priest went in to sprinkle the blood that was offered over the Ark of the Covenant into the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle. Anybody who went into the Holy of Holies with unconfessed sin in his life died on the spot. I heard stories about how they tied a rope to their ankle. If they didn’t come out, they’d drug them out. Nobody’s going to go in there and get him. Matter of fact, Aaron had two sons that snuck into the temple one night in the Holy of Holies, brought strange light, and they died on the spot. So God doesn’t tolerate you invading the temple with sin. And your body is now the temple of God if you’re a Christian. Did you know that? You are the temple of God. And this is where you worship. You worship in your body by giving your body as a living and holy sacrifice to God. That’s amazing. Our bodies are now a holy tabernacle indwelled by the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, the Hebrews had a portable tabernacle that they used to worship God. And it was a temporary means to establish God as the true God, and the eternal purpose was to establish Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice. That was what they taught. You know, in the Old Testament, people got saved by looking forward to the cross, and we get saved by looking back at the cross, but it’s the same cross. We have it written down in a Bible to read about it. They didn’t have a Bible, so they had a ritual. But we no longer need a tabernacle because we are now the tabernacle, and he lives in us The tabernacle was Israel’s portable sanctuary in the wilderness. And it contained an outer courtyard with a bronze altar and a laver where the priests had to clean up after the sacrifice. And it led into the holy place with a golden lampstand, tables of showbread, altar of incense, and finally the innermost holy of holies called where the Ark of the Covenant was held. Holding the Ten Commandments on the lid with the cherubim symbolizing God’s presence, and the path to holiness. There’s a whole study about that, but it’s all a picture of Christ. So a true worshiper, a true worshiper, if you want to be a true worshiper of God, it involves you sacrificing your rights to his will for your life. Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to sacrifice your will for his demands, what he’s telling you he wants you to do. A true worshiper of God involves you sacrificing your rights to his will for your life. It also demands a couple of other words I want to bring to your attention. A true worshiper demands reverence and respect, as well as the final word, obedience. Reverence, respect, and obedience. So just because you go to an emotionally charged worship service and raise your hand while singing and swaying does not mean you’re worshiping God. I think I’ve proven that to you. It does not mean you’re worshiping God because reverence and adoration for God demands obedience, which may include sacrifice and service on your part. So you cannot worship a God you do not serve. And you cannot serve a God you don’t understand. Did you hear me? You cannot worship a God you don’t serve. And you can’t serve a God you don’t understand if you don’t understand what he wants you to do. So just because you go to a worship service and you got emotional and you raised your hands and you swayed back and forth and you sang some words of song over and over again, it doesn’t mean you’re worshiping God. To worship God demands reverence and respect, and most of all, obedience. I’ll give you an example. Do you attend communion services at your church? This is the most solemn type of worship you could do in the church age. Because if you don’t understand what you’re doing, it simply becomes ritual without reality. And the Apostle Paul warns everyone in 1 Corinthians 11, 27 through 29. He warns about the dangers of partaking in communion with known sin in your life. So when you’re served that cracker, they come down the aisle and give you a little plate and give you the cracker. What do you eat? You just pop it in your mouth and eat it? What are you thinking about? What does that cracker represent to you? If you are a true worshiper, if you really worship God, then you will recall several doctrines that that cracker relates to because that cracker that you’re about to chew up is the body of Christ. It’s very unique. It relates to his virgin birth. He was born of a virgin. Mary never had sex, never consummated sex with Joseph until after Jesus was born. You can read it in Matthew. that cracker represents his celebrity ship king of kings no other person you know here’s the neat thing about it no other person in the history of the world birth was announced by an angel of god nobody floated over the hospital where you were being born and said oh bob is being born down there except the lord jesus christ had angels announce his birth in luke 2. so never forget that not only was he virgin born not only was he a true celebrity but you must remember this and he was sinless he never sinned we call that impeccable and we must remember that he was god and man in one body forever And we must remember that he’s the King of kings and the Lord of lords. In 1 Timothy 6, 13 through 15, I give you charge in the sight of God. who quickens all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that you keep the mandates without spot, unrebukable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen, here it comes in verse 15, 1 Timothy 6, 15, which in his times he shall show who is the blessed man and only potentate the King of kings and the Lord of lords. That’s Jesus Christ. In Philippians 2, 10 and 11, at the name of Christ, every knee both on earth and in heaven will bow and genuflect at his name. So he is the King of kings, he’s the Lord of lords. He’s virgin born, he’s celebrity ship, he’s impeccable. When you put that cracker in your mouth, you should be able to scroll through these doctrines in your mind rather than sit there just chewing on it, wondering what time church is going to get over and what time they quit serving over at the restaurant. That’s how you worship God. You understand him. You know him. You appreciate him. You pray and you say, God, thank you for your anointed son who was born of a virgin. You run through these things in your mind. You’re not worshiping God just because you’re taking communion as a ritual. You hear me? You got to understand what you’re doing. How can you worship a God you don’t understand? When you place that water in your mouth, that wafer in your mouth, excuse me, those are the doctrines you had to concentrate on, and thus that’s how you worship Jesus, our Lord and Savior, in the communion service. And the same is true about taking the cup. Do you know what the cup represents? Why you worship him by partaking and drinking of the cup. They’re going to come back with a little cup with grape juice in it, and you’re going to take it, and when the pastor tells you, you’re going to drink it. His death on the cross was not just physical. Remember that. Because it was there that he took our sins upon himself, and he removed the barrier between God and man. Hebrews 2, 9. But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that by the grace of God, he should taste death for every man. So his death on the cross was for me and for you. So thus, by means of his spiritual death on the cross, when he took our sins, remember when after he had taken our sins, he finally uttered, it is finished, death lest I die. The thing he had to do was to receive the sins of the world. The cup, he said, let this cup pass from me. The cup was my sin and your sin. And when he drank that cup, he was separated from God. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, he said. On the cross, thus we remember that. He died in our place. He tasted death for each of us. And it was a spiritual death, identification with our sins. So by doing that, we were reconciled to God because our sins were imputed to him, his son, and the righteousness of his son was imputed to us. That’s why it says in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, he who made him to be sin for us, the one that knew no sin, here it comes, so that we might be made the righteousness of God by means of him. This imputation, justified us before God sanctified us before God setting us apart in our positional sanctification forever so when you drink that cup you’ve got to remember these doctrines also reconciliation imputation justification sanctification and that’s what the pastor has to teach you that so it doesn’t become a ritual without reality it’s not true worship if it’s just a ritual So here’s where you can understand what worship really entails. It’s not some emotional song service. It’s not singing the same words repeatedly. But worshiping is what you think and understand about the character of God who saved you and called you to his service. Do you love him? Do you obey him? Do you reverence him forever and forever? That’s critical you understand that. The reason I brought this to you is I see so much misinformation about worship. And there seems to be a trend in our society today about young kids getting brought back into worship God. But when you watch it and you listen to what’s being done or said, you realize no one’s saying what true worship really is like I just did today. I taught you how you truly worship God. So I hope you were paying attention and I hope you were listening. Because it’s critical. If you didn’t, you’re going to misunderstand what true worship is, and you’re going to go along with the crowd, and you’re going to just do what everybody else does. It’s just going to be ritual without reality to it. So don’t fall into that gimmick. Don’t fall into that pseudo-worshiping. Don’t fall into that phony stuff, that fake stuff. Oh, it makes everybody look like they spiritually love Jesus, like I love Jesus. Oh, I love Jesus. And they don’t. because they don’t even know the Lord they pretend to serve. I hope you learned something. I’m sure I might get some critics. I always do. You know, I don’t get drug dealers calling me up and criticizing me. I get Christians, denominations, religions that disagree with what I teach, and that’s fine. I handle it. No problem. That’s what I see the Bible teaches about true worship, and I hope you listen. I hope you learn, and I hope you’ll stay in fellowship until the next time we meet This is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline.
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Thank you for listening to The Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
